If someone were to look at your profile right now from side on, what would they see?

Would they see you standing tall, head up, chin down, chest up, body strong, balanced and proud, looking like an animal capable of rapid and dynamic movement in any direction?

Or would they would see you in a position of slunched, rounded shoulders, retracted and shortened hip flexors, with your body curled up and over at the middle?

Taken another way, if they removed your surroundings and looked at your profile all by itself against a plain background – would they consider that you are in something that looks awfully similar to the foetal position?

If you are in the first category, power to you.

If you are in the second category….. well, don’t stress (too much), you are not alone, most of us call it sitting.

I think that SITTING could be one of the biggest detriments to your physical performance. (Expect to come back to this later.)

This topic is so big I am not even sure really where to start, so I am going to just dive in, and see where my Kiwi mumblings take me.

The thing is, everyone who orders Athletic Greens or reads this blog is looking to improve their health, quality of life, or physical performance.

We strive for those things because we think they will make us HAPPY, and by and large, in this instance, we are spot on. I have yet to meet anyone who is unhappy because they look, feel, or perform better!

I applaud that. Happiness, health, and human performance are what I am all about…….

Well, time to step it up a level mate. Diet in and of itself is important, but there is something dear to my heart that judging by some of the emails we are getting is frequently missing:

EXERCISE.

Taken from an evolutionary biology standpoint and in light of our genetic heritage – if you don’t exercise, you are BROKEN.

If you don’t have “time” to exercise, you had better reserve a lot of time for disease, immobility, and downright MISERY.

And if you are chasing fat loss, you can expect your progress to crawl when compared to someone who is coupling an outstanding eating plan AND some smart exercise.

Starting next month, I am going to begin a little series on how I think you should exercise, and give you some pointers on the best way I think you should go about doing so.

If you are not yet exercising regularly, don’t sweat it, we are going to walk you into getting in awesome shape.

If you are already exercising, I love it! I am a big fan of continuing education, so you will hopefully learn a bit about why I structure my workouts this way, plus I am going to introduce you to some exercise rock stars.

In the meantime, if you are sitting (and two big thumbs UP if you are NOT), please get up out of your chair, and MOVE.

At a minimum, walk around, stretch your hip flexors for a minute each, (maybe do some glute bridges and a few lunges too), move your arms until you can feel the muscles in your upper back working, stretch out your chest for a bit.

Even better, go and do some exercise. You know, MOVE, like we are designed to. Do a quick workout at home, hit the gym, or even just go outside and go for a walk with your thoughts or a significant other.

With this being the weekend, I really hope you will make the effort to get outside.

And consider how you might change your computer set up so you are only ever working on it while standing up….

Always strive to set up a stand-up work station. I am house sitting this week but found this outdoor table to work well indoors and outdoors. Highly worth the effort.. and hope you like the product placement!

It may take a bit of effort, but you will thank me.

I genuinely believe that the less we sit every day, the happier we are, and the easier it is going to be for you to achieve your health or performance goals.

That is it for me, I have had way too much laptop face-time this week so I am out of here! Hope you have a great weekend.

Always, always, eat clean, nutritious food….. and please, get moving.

“100% Focus On Happiness”

That is my mantra, and it starts with phenomenal health.

Best,

Chris “the Kiwi” Ashenden

ps. What are you doing for exercise this weekend? Starting my Saturday with a quick gym session, then plan to take a walk outside with a very pretty girl this afternoon…. life. is. beautiful.

So named because he comes from a little country in the Pacific called New Zealand where a small, fat, quasi-blind, and largely defenseless bird by the name of “Kiwi” is the national animal, and what we are called when we land in other countries.
He is focused on using what he can remember from his studies for a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and his cumulative years as a nutritionist and strength coach to help other people enjoy amazing levels of health and energy. He enjoys ticking through his list of life goals and meeting new people.

Sandy in USA here. I recently had a complete knee replacement. Your exercise advice and wonderful “Atletic Greens” have been a main stay in my physical therapy program. I feel energized each morning after taking my greens and ready for my muscle rebuild program.

Thank you and keep up the good news.

Happy days!

Anonymous

Hey Sandy!

Thank you for the kind words. Great work on your dedicated approach to your health and rehab, I hope you keep getting after it
Chris

Chris Ashenden

Jeff Agron

Hey Chris, I have recently become a big fan of high intensity interval training (I particularly like doing it on a Stepmill machine for a smooth, low impact high intensity workout). I read that it can increase metabolism, fat burning and hormones in a way that makes it almost anti-aging! My question is, why not incorporate interval training 5-6 days a week? It seems like this type of activity is similar in many ways to the type of workout one would get from playing soccer, basketball, etc. or along the lines of our ancestors — hunting on a daily basis. So, doesn’t it seem like a natural, functional way to improve health and happiness?

http://www.facebook.com/davidmoody82 David Christopher Moody

What variety would there be for breakfast? I used to eat cereal but knocked that out. Recently I have been eating eggs, but am growing tired of them already. Any suggestions? About to head out to buy some food to cook for the week.

Anonymous

Hey David,

1. Whatever you ate for dinner – ie, reheat a stew or curry or anything else and you are golden
Or

2. Anything you would normally eat for any other meal. My favorite breakfast is a grass-fed steak, two soft poached eggs on top, and some steamed spinach. Leave the eggs soft and they provide the “sauce” on your steak.
Delicious, neurotransmitters are set, and your hormones and body are up and running for the day.
Of course, their is also bacon

Chris Ashenden

Christchild2

Hi. I am 51years old. But, I feel young inside. So, I am eating right and exercising often. I do a mix of 3 mile walks and at home exercises. I do five cycles of the following exercises: 20 push ups, 20 jumping jacks, and 20 lungs–equaling out to a total of 100 of each (if I am doing my math right). Then I do 20 deep knee bends, 50 crunches, and a bunch of “small weight” (9 pound) curls–for further arm strength. I drink a lot of water. But, I also enjoy my coffee. I drink it with a touch of honey, or black. I have lost 21 pounds and am feeling great. It’s fun to be 51. Good luck with your blog. Cheri

Anonymous

Thanks Cheri!

fan

Great article. I have a stand up desk station at work. Now I’m inspired to set one up at home as well.

Anonymous

Nice! Two thumbs up. (and sorry I missed this until now)

John Calabrese

Hey Kiwi,

Since I started athletic greens one month ago, I have quit drinking, quit smoking, go paddleboarding or go jogging (started out just walking) 45mins to an hour every morning. I also do the four hour body mini daily excercises with the airsquats etc. I wake up at 6:30am without needing an alarm. I have crazy energy. I got your fish oil and vitamin d and really I don’t know what’s happening but it’s amazing. I eat egg whites omelet with kale or spinach or asparagus with grass fed hamburger or ground turkey. Black coffee water or unsweetened tea only. Salmon with spinach or whatever for lunch. Serious animal protein according to your instrux for dinner. Coconut oil!!! Brussel sprouts!!! I am 5’10” and weighed 245, now I weigh 229 and by tomorrow morning I am hoping to see 228. No more double chin!!! I just got P90X and I am going to crush that. Keep you posted!

– Johnny C

P Creel

Where do you get the fish oil from?
Also, your eating plan, where was that info found?
Thanks,
-Patty C

Tony P

@Patty, I believe John is doing a slow carb diet as outlined by Tim Ferris in his book The Four Hour Body.

Anonymous

Hey Tony and Patty, for the eating plan, go to christhekiwi.com/start-here/

Thanks for the reminder to Keep Moving. I hope Beyond Diet will get me moving quicker. But you wrote with my fwded email title Athletic Greens but did not answer the Question:How bto get Greens in Australia, what is the estimated annual cost? I find Sitting at my computer helps me concentrate better on the question?

Anonymous

Hey Gary, as have been covered before, we are not shipping to Australia. We made the decision to focus on the North American markets. Europe is next.

You don’t need AG to get your body moving. Beyond Diet is great. My approach is a bit more aggressive and you can find it here christhekiwi.com/start-here/

Cheers, C

Dotty1619

I’m very interested in doing more exercise, however, I have 4 bulging disc in my lower back and have to be careful what I do. If you could gear some of your exercises in that direction, I would appreciate it and probably others would, too. Thanks

Anonymous

Hey Dotty,

Thanks for your post. When it comes to training people who are injured, no one beats Dr Kareem Samhouri (I should know, I flew to be with him for 1 month just for rehab).

Most of his marketing is too over the top for my taste, but track down a program for people with back injuries, and he will definitely help get you moving again.

Great question. Kettlebells are a weight training tool from Russia, popularized in the USA recently largely by a guy called Pavel Tsatsouline. They have however, been around for a long time and were very popular with old school strong men. They are an AWESOME tool for exercising for beginners and advanced alike. I am especially fond of them for an exercise called “swings” for developing the posterior chain (butt, hamstrings, lowerback) helping eliminate fat and improve female backsides!

They are basically a canon ball with a handle on it. You can find them on amazon.com

Masanchez690

Kettlebells outside in the sunshine!

Anonymous

YES!

http://www.facebook.com/garey.simmons Garey Simmons

Right on, Right on! Speaking my language. I am 58 years young and proudly recommend you to my clients. Garey Simmons, http://www.optimalhealthbridge.com, Keep the feet moving!

Sdfsd

First!

Anonymous

Whooop!

Sdfsd

I took a kettlebell course a few months back. The instructor asked what everyone did for a living, specifically looking for office workers…like me. He said “you are training yourself for 8 hours a day to have a bad posture when you crouch.” Exactly right. Whether we are couch potatoes or walking around all day, we are TRAINING our bodies, most of us for the worse. Instead of training our spines and muscles to be inactive and ruined, maybe we should spend more attention training them to be strong, natural, uncompromising positions.

About the ‘KIWI’

Chris “the Kiwi” Ashenden
So named because I come from a little country in the Pacific called New Zealand where a small, fat, quasi-blind, and largely defenseless bird by the name of “Kiwi” is the national animal, and what we are called when we land in other countries.

I landed in the USA, got called “the Kiwi” (sometimes just “Kiwi”) and the name stuck.